Glossary Terms

Definition: Meta-information (information about information) that is associated with a web page and placed in the HTML but not displayed on the page for the user to see. There are a range of meta tags, only a few of which are relevant to search engine spiders. Two of the most well-known meta tags are the meta description and meta keywords; unfortunately these are ignored by most major search engines, including Google.

FirstClickSEO Commentary: These are invisible tags that help the search engines index your site.

Definition: a meta tag hidden in the HTML that lists keywords relevant to the page’s content. Because search engine spammers have abused this tag so much, this tag provides little to no benefit to your search rankings. Of the major search engines, only Yahoo! still pays any attention to the meta keywords tag.

FirstClickSEO Commentary: While not as important as 7 years ago, still important to have this tag on your pages.

Definition: a meta tag hidden in the HTML that describes the page’s content. Should be relatively short; around 12 to 20 words is suggested. The meta description provides an opportunity to influence how your Web page is described in the search results, but it will not improve your search rankings. Make sure your meta description reflects the page content or you may be accused of spamming

FirstClickSEO Commentary: This is also the copy that appears on the search results. It should be simple and catchy.

Definition: Submitting by hand to an individual search engine, rather than using an automated submission tool or service. Manual submitting is the more polite way to submit, and as such is less likely to land you in trouble with the search engines. But the best approach is not to submit at all and let the search engine spiders find your site through links from other sites to your site.

FirstClickSEO Commentary: We recommend manual submissions with any significant site updates. Too many can get you flagged for spamming.

Definition: All accesses to a website can be logged by the web server. Data that is usually logged includes date and time, filename accessed, user’s IP address, referring web page, user’s browser software and version, and cookie data.All accesses to a website can be logged by the web server.

FirstClickSEO Commentary: Also called an “Access Log”.